The Old Curiosity Shop

New critical introduction, outlining the novel's publishing history, and discussing its reception, the character of Little Nell, Dickens's style, and the illustrations

'His characters are marvellous, his insights wonderful ... You don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better' Ruth Rendell 
 
The Old Curiosity Shop was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp. Alongside the pathos of the innocent, tragic Nell are some of Dickens's greatest characters: the ne'er-do'well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful Quilp himself, a creation of demonic power and cruelty. 
 
Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Norman Page

Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity was established by the phenomenally successful PICKWICK PAPERS (1836-7). His novels captured and held the public imagination over a period of more than thirty years. He is considered one of the greatest novelists in the English language. 
Norman Page is Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham and the University of Alberta, Canada. His books include A Dickens Companion and A Dickens Chronology.

Charles Dickens

George Cruikshank

Hablot K. Browne

George Cattermole

Deborah Thomas

This witty and amusing collection of short pieces shows Dickens liberated from the more formal and sustained demands of the novel and experimenting with a diverse range of fictional techniques. In his tales of the supernatural, he creates frighteningly believable, spine-tingling stories of prophetic dreams and visions, as well as more fantastical adventures with goblins and apparitions. Impressionistic sketches combine imaginatively heightened travel journals with wry observations of home and abroad, while in his dramatic monologues, Dickens demonstrates his talent for exploring the secret workings of the human mind. These short works display Dickens's exuberant sense of comedy and character as his imagination is given free rein.

George Cattermole

Books by George Cattermole

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